The subject matter described herein relates generally to imaging systems, and more particularly, to a system and method for generating image window view settings.
Imaging systems are widely used to generate images of various anatomical features or objects of interest. For example, computed tomography (CT) imaging systems may be utilized to generate images of a patient's vasculature, organs, bones, soft tissue, or other objects of interest. In operation, the CT imaging system projects an x-ray beam through an object being imaged, such as the patient. The x-ray beam, after being attenuated by the patient, impinges upon a detector. The intensity of the attenuated x-ray beam received at the detector is dependent upon the attenuation of the x-ray beam by the object. Each detector element of the array produces a separate electrical signal that is a measurement of the x-ray beam intensity at the detector location.
The intensity measurements from the detector elements are acquired separately to produce a set of x-ray attenuation measurements, i.e., projection data. The projection data is then used to generate an image of the object that is viewed on a display. Some images may cover a large area of the patient whereas the user is generally interested in viewing a smaller region of interest within the image to perform, for example, a diagnosis of the patient. Accordingly, at least one conventional imaging system enables the user to manually adjust various imaging parameters to optimize the region of interest of concern to the user. For example, one region of the image may depict the liver and another region may depict the lungs.
Accordingly, if the user is primarily concerned with viewing the lungs, the conventional imaging system enables the user to manually adjust various parameters in the image representing the lungs and to therefore generate an enhanced or improved image of the lungs. However, the user typically desires to observe many images of the lungs to perform the diagnosis. Thus, the user is required to manually adjust the viewing parameters for each image individually. Accordingly, the manual features on the conventional imaging system are time consuming to operate and may therefore increase the time required by the user to perform a diagnosis of the patient. Moreover, because the optimal viewing parameters are related to a particular region of interest being viewed, the user generally relies on his own knowledge of the imaged anatomy to change the viewing parameters. Thus, inexperienced users may not have the knowledge to properly adjust the various parameters to generate an enhanced image of the region of interest.